DynaSys, European experts in solutions for Demand & Supply Chain Planning, and Preactor, world leader in advanced planning and scheduling software, announce the signing of a new contract with Lindt & Sprüngli France, a great name in the world of the chocolate products. The company has embarked, according to Vincent Bonnet, its IT Manager, “on a surer integrated system and more functional than we have developed around our ERP”. Vincent stressed the combination of the two solutions, n.SKEP Production Planning of DynaSys and Preactor, which provided them with a wider functional envelope. Interfaced with JD Edwards, the existing ERP, the planning and scheduling solutions will allow Lindt & Sprüngli France to improve in efficiency and agility to support the production of their French plant.

The Challenge

World market leader of “Premium” quality chocolates, Lindt & Sprüngli offers a broad selection of products in more than 100 countries throughout the world. Looking back, the beginnings of the company goes back to 1845, when a father and his son manufactured, for the first time, a solid chocolate in their small confectionery in Zurich, Switzerland. Today, more than 165 years later, the company has 8 production sites in the world including Oloron Sainte-Marie (64) in France. This plant produces chocolate bars and Christmas & Easter chocolates. Its customers are essentially mass-market retailing names.

"We have a strong seasonal demand variation. Christmas and Easter are two periods with peak production, which requires us to work 6 to 7 days per week,” comments Vincent Bonnet. “We have also to manage great complexity in our processes. Indeed, the transformation of cocoa broad beans into fine chocolate is a complex manufacturing process involving automated systems for the manufacture of the paste, the mouldings and conditioning. " It was thus necessary, to provide a tool with broad functional cover to provide the possibility of quickly generating a S&OP, and a MPS and then be able to synchronize them with a scheduling tool..

"Today, with the information collected in our ERP we are using Excel ® for planning this but it takes too much time to generate a new S&OP, which constitutes a barrier to our reactivity ”, he added.Decision Making
The French site wished to optimize its production planning in order to better adapt to the new constraints. The key points in choosing DynaSys and Preactor, described by Vincent Bonnet were as follows:

Security of the function of planner;

Add profit through better reactivity and thus, effectiveness;

Optimization of inventory control;

Generate more relevant S&OP and MPS;

Direct interface with the existing ERP.

Comments

Vincent Bonnet, Lindt & Sprüngli; “We chose n.SKEP Production Planning and Preactor, two best of breed solutions. The functional cover of the software package of DynaSys combined with the scheduling tool of Preactor meets completely our requirements in terms of flexibility, ergonomics and optimization.”

Ariel Weil, CEO of DynaSys: “We are proud to count among our prestigious customers this great name in chocolate. It consolidates our dominating position in the markets of the confectionery and the chocolate production, after Cadbury, Cemoi, Lamy Lutti, etc.”

Thierry Faguet, Director of the Preactor European operations: “We are delighted to number Lindt & Sprüngli among our users for the management of its production and this contract win highlights the synergy with DynaSys and reinforces our strong partnership with them. This new contract confirms the positioning of Preactor in the Food & Beverage sector with more than 300 accounts already installed”

The DynaSys solution chosen by Lindt & Sprüngli

n.SKEP Production Planning: planning solution and multilevel optimization of production (S&OP and MPS).

PREACTOR APS 500: detailed scheduling solution.

About DynaSysFounded in 1985, the DynaSys Company is an European expert in Demand & Supply Chain Planning solutions. Its collaborative and integrated n.SKEP® solution covers all Supply Chain processes at a strategic, tactical and operational level, enabling the calculation of sales forecasts as well as the multi-level planning and optimization of procurement, production and distribution.
DynaSys has over 250 customers throughout the world and in various business sectors including Food & Beverages, Consumer Packaged Goods, Healthcare (Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals and Cosmetics), Apparel, Luxury and Distribution & Retail. Leading customers include But International, Cadbury, Dorel Europe, Ipsen, Labeyrie, Lindt & Sprüngli, LVHM, Mars, Martell, Mumm, Perrier-Jouët, Petit Bateau, Piaget, Ricard SA, Valeo, …